(no subject)
I totally forgot to mention that I saw August: Osage County a couple weeks ago, and lo, it was brilliant. Marbles pretty much hated it, but if you are at all comfortable with rage and pathos, and you understand that the Midwest and the Plains are more than just the land of apple pie and salads with marshmallows, I highly recommend it.
Plot synopsis: Beverly hires a Native American girl to help care for his aging wife, who has cancer, and then disappears. The family convenes on the family homestead in Oklahoma, and everything goes downhill from there.
Warning: It’s a really, really long play. I did not expect this length of play and I was out past my bedtime on a schoolwork night.
And last night, speaking of the Plains, I finished The Last Exit to Normal, which was also outstanding. Ben’s dad came out of the closet when Ben was 14, and then his mom left and his dad’s boyfriend moved in. Ben starts acting out, and his dad and his momdad (which is what he calls his dad’s boyfriend) move him to his momdad’s mom’s house in Rough Butte in eastern Montana, a farming/ranching town of less than 1,000. This is an identity book, but what an identity book. It’s angry and sad and heartbreaking and smart, and I love Ben, but maybe that’s just because I was a teen with a smart mouth in the middle of nowhere. Recommended for anyone reading teen boy lit, anyone reading GLBT books, and anyone who thinks farm girls are hot. Warnings for abuse, violence and, well, shotguns.
Also, this book reminded me that I am an idiot and do not know how to fix a car. I wish I knew how to fix a car. What do you wish you knew how to do?
Plot synopsis: Beverly hires a Native American girl to help care for his aging wife, who has cancer, and then disappears. The family convenes on the family homestead in Oklahoma, and everything goes downhill from there.
Warning: It’s a really, really long play. I did not expect this length of play and I was out past my bedtime on a schoolwork night.
And last night, speaking of the Plains, I finished The Last Exit to Normal, which was also outstanding. Ben’s dad came out of the closet when Ben was 14, and then his mom left and his dad’s boyfriend moved in. Ben starts acting out, and his dad and his momdad (which is what he calls his dad’s boyfriend) move him to his momdad’s mom’s house in Rough Butte in eastern Montana, a farming/ranching town of less than 1,000. This is an identity book, but what an identity book. It’s angry and sad and heartbreaking and smart, and I love Ben, but maybe that’s just because I was a teen with a smart mouth in the middle of nowhere. Recommended for anyone reading teen boy lit, anyone reading GLBT books, and anyone who thinks farm girls are hot. Warnings for abuse, violence and, well, shotguns.
Also, this book reminded me that I am an idiot and do not know how to fix a car. I wish I knew how to fix a car. What do you wish you knew how to do?